Archived 'Dispatches from Diego Garcia' from Chaplain/Pastor Rick
September 22, 2004:
Ch. Maj Rick Cavens deployed on an island in the middle of no where.
"Defensor Crabis" is the motto on the new military coin of our Camp Justice Security Forces. Military coins are a traditional coveted item given to build team unity or give out a well earned special "atta-boy". "Defensor Crabis" is a brilliant and clever motto catching the attitude of those red land crabs that know they own the island of Diego Garcia. The coin holds a little orange creature daring the world to come mess with his home. One crab, the size of a tray from our "Dining Facility", stopped a B-1 bomber from taking off. They were afraid it would be sucked up into one of the planes massive jet engines, so two security cops had to corral the crustacean and herd the obstinate clawed creature off the runway.
I was stopped in my journey just last night by the red crabis. I was traveling to share a prayer at the O'-dark-thirty crew brief as a huge land crab stood in my way. The cop coin had surely gone to that crab's head. He ran "tittle, tittle, tittle" sideways out onto the road in the middle of the night and defied me to drive my truck to PACAF. He held his huge right claw up high, flicking it towards himself as if to say, "Come on pilgrim, make my day. Defy the claw of death."
Well that crab had me there - what did I have for a weapon against his claw but my right front truck tire. My truck headlights held the scenario between crab and man as we waited for the tension to break. I looked at my clock- I had to go. If I did not make my prayer my pilots would fly off with out God keeping them safe. Would the Claw of Death strike or would I make a grease spot out of the red crustacean? The smell of death was in the air as well as a bad Jimmy Buffet song- (Just showed my age).
I twisted the steering wheel to the right, put my foot to the gas peddle, roaring the Air Force blue truck up to warp speed thirty-five. Passing over the top of the little crab terrorist as my tires went on either side of him I looked back in my mirror. I read his crab lips as he said, "Whoa, that was one big blue crab dude, glad she's not my species; ugly. Eats too much. No claw for protection, just four round stalks for legs"
Brothers and sisters our lives are a constant learning curve on figuring out how to live together deployed or at home. Wisdom is to drive past trouble by turning your steering wheel to the right, God's right, and glide bye. See the other's guy's point of view and drive towards the accomplishment of our mission and life. Avoid the "Claw of Death" and think about how your actions affect your neighbor.
Gods grace and blessings,
Ch. Maj Rick Cavens
September 15, 2004:
Scribblings from
an undisclosed Location- Ok you know where it is.
A little Scribblings from Chaplain Rick at Midnight
Many of you may be wondering just what does PastorRick, now
Chaplain Rick for four months, do on that island in the middle of no-where? I
can talk about all the recreational opportunities that island life can bring-
but I'm just too busy to enjoy those outings. Instead let me talk about my (and
the Air Force’s) mission out here.
The Air Force is deployed 10,000 miles out here to fly bombers. From this safe
and secure island pilots and weapons officers fly off on 16 hour round trips to
the north. Our tankers fly out for eight hours with them and to meet the bombers
on their way back home. You know where these places are and where the Bombers
go. You see them on your TV everyday. There is a war on terrorism going on and
the people here are charged with making the ground troops safer and keeping the
enemy spooked. This war affects the lives of the people here and they need a
chaplain. As an example, I will do a memorial service this Tuesday night for a
young, single, promising young pilot who died up north in the "Sandbox". Many of
his friends here at this deployed location were co-workers with the deceased
back home in the Mid-West.
The Air Force never sleeps. They have briefings in the morning, briefings in the
afternoon, and briefings in the middle of the night. Counseling sessions walk in
the door all the time- even at 0400, that's 4:00 am, in the morning. Here I am
back from briefing an aircrew with a prayer, throwing the truck keys in the
drawer, and in comes a little airman that's feeling guilty because they were in
the wrong bed at the wrong time. At least they came to the chaplain to seek out
how to be a better person. At least we got to the point of talking about how to
make their life a little less lonely. At 0400 hours you have a short time to
help individuals see themselves as God sees them and wants them to be. You also
want to be in your own little cot alone and asleep; sorry, but not talking
ethics at 0400.
As chaplains, we have worship services, 9/11 memorial services, and I just
dedicated a new steeple for the chapel that volunteers imagined and built in
their spare time. We even have Bible studies and fellowship events just like
back home in our family and community congregations. But here is my real
ministry as a chaplain called to deployment in the USAF; it’s my 2 for 7; two
minutes of scripture, prayer, and sermon for seven people. And I thank God for
this opportunity for it’s forcing me to study Scripture and look at my own
spiritual life.
My 2 for 7 happens three times a day, morning, noon, and night; mostly EARLY
morning; remember the Air Force never sleeps. It is a tradition, that feeling of
luck, and that feeling of hope to have the chaplain share their 2 for 7 before
the air crew hears what their mission is, finds out what the weather is, gets
briefed on what to do if they crash and are behind enemy lines, strip off their
patches, and give any identifying article to the folks in Intelligence to keep
until they return. A pilot and weapons officer cannot carry their wedding ring,
wallet with ID, or anything that would tell the enemy who and where they are
from.
As a chaplain, you hope that what you shared with the two pilots,
two weapons officer, the briefing officer, weather and Intell will last the next
nineteen to twenty hours - that your prayers will be enough to protect and guide
your pilots. Now, I've crawled up into the cockpit of these Bombers. There is
not a whole lot of room there. I do not know how a large man could sit for
sixteen hours in the space we ask them to be in. True there are books on tape,
DVDs, and music to help entertain them. They even have their own itty-bitty
potty. But, only one individual can stand in the hallway of that plane. For the
whole plane is nothing but a gas tank, engines, and bombs. The four people in
their bomber aircraft really are not up there to be entertained. They are up
there to be vigilant and aware. They are up there to confuse and scare the
enemy; even unto death. They fly those bombers to protect our military folks on
the ground and make the war shorter in duration.
Now where these bombers fly is where our Alaskan Guard was last year in the
Mid-East. Our Alaskan Guard rescued locals and was shot at last year by the bad
guys. They rescued children who had been injured by the radical terrorists so
that the enemy could entice our rescue helicopters to come in close and be a
target. Our Alaskan Army National Guard is located where my Bombers fly their
missions. The mission for the people I pray with for two minutes is where some
of our congregation's sons and daughters are now. I want these Bombers to do
their job. I want our neighbor pastor from the congregational church down the
street to come home to his adopted Russian kids and church. I do not want him
killed by a rocket propelled grenade or a mortar. I want that Army chaplain to
minister to his military people and come home. If it takes a bomb to bring
peace- ok I will have to live with that. If I have to confront God when I go to
heaven about my part in this war machine- I trust in the blood of Jesus. We all
are sinners and find ourselves at the foot of the cross; even the terrorist. We
have to make choices in the gray confusing areas of life and faith is about
making choices and either do God's work or ask later for God's forgiveness if
wrong.
My Scripture lessons with the aircrews have been about Jacob wrestling in the
dark with God. I'm sure my pilots wrestle with their controls, wrestle with
their mission, and wrestle with being away from their families and home. I have
shared Paul's discussion on the armor of God and how these aircrews are maybe
God's justice in the air and should fly for truth and freedom. We have prayed
together after reading psalms that seek God for salvation and hope. We have
searched Scripture together looking for answers as to why there’s chaos and war
in people's hearts. We ply the Word of God looking for that reminder of home.
Its funny, the minute you land in your "Deployed Location" you start thinking of
home. Before you look at your work site. After you find out where you will sleep
and put your stuff away- everyone calls or e-mails home within the first few
hours. Even though you are a 120 days away from sleeping in your own bed and
laughing and talking with family and friends back home; you look for that
assurance that home will still be there when you get back. That visual assurance
for the deployed troop is the local tent city chapel. That voice that reminds
them home is around the corner and is an island of peace is the voice of the
chaplain.
God's blessings my congregation. Thanks for loaning me out to the USAF!
Pastor Rick
P.S. Tell Pastor Bimen its monsoon season just like on Sumatra- just saw three
coconut rats building a raft; they had a wild chicken tied to it for food.
August 30, 2004:
Well hello Heather, Pastor Bimen,
and congregation,
Five days of travel and one day of setting up shop in Diego Garcia and now I'm
e-mailing you with my first ever hotmail account. I should be using this account
for my deployment in Diego Garcia. I say "should" because I not coordinated on
the computer.
I had to sit in Bahrain for two days and a night before I caught a military hop
on a huge C-17 to Diego Garcia. From the Mid East it was a six hour flight.
Before that it was a commercial airlines flight to Virginia- an overnight. Catch
a chartered military flight at four o'clock at night arriving in Naples, Italy
at six o'clock in the morning. Layover for two hours in view of Mt Vesuvius. A
short two and a half hour flight to Crete. A lay over of two hours and back on
the plane to Bahrain. That flight only took five hours. I am so glad I'm not
deployed in Bahrain or any other Mid-East country. The heat almost killed me 90
degrees at 8:00 at night. Staying at a hotel in downtown Bahrain almost robbed
me of all my money even though the government paid the hotel room. Security is
tight and worried. We really need to pray for those military folks in harms way
in the Mid East. We are at war!
I live in a little Roman Arched plastic tent. My room is a plywood partitioned
space of about ten feet by six. They had just built a chapel and chapel offices:
Just means they are still drilling holes into cinder block to put in plumbing.
It is a five room space. 20 by 40 foot chapel, 20 by 40 foot fellowship hall,
and office space fronting that which is 10 by 40. I'm lucky only command,
supply, some support for command, the dining hall and gym are in buildings with
walls. The clinic, cops, vehicles, and CE, and the living spaces all are in
tents. For those of you who think I have sandy beaches- no sand just coral.
Though the pilots live in little cinder block apartments in "Downtown" Diego
Garcia. That's the Navy Base, and limited at that.
All personal communication is done in a room filled with about 40 computers. I
soon will be able to figure out how to use a phone line through the computer so
I can phone long distance at 1.7 cents per minute. Bob Schmidt will be pleased
because I can use a camera.
God love you all.
Know I love and miss my congregation.
Chaplain Maj Rick Cavens
Senior Chaplain